This thesis presents findings from a qualitative enquiry into the rapid uptake of the mobile phone by pastoral communities in Tanzania and its use as a tool to tackle marketing constraints. The research design involves an interregional comparative analysis of two key production regions: Arusha and the Lake Zone, and two groups of livestock producers (the Maasai pastoralists and Wasukuma agro-pastoralists respectively). Applying the Social Shaping of Technology (SST) perspective from Science and Technology Studies (STS), and in particular the concept of 'appropriation', the study examines the embrace of mobile phones by those producers - who keep livestock under the extensive (pastoralist) and semi-intensive (agro-pastoralist) systems respectively. The thesis examines the extent to which the mobile phone is changing how livestock keepers interact in the livestock market and how this is affecting their livelihoods. The thesis shows that the significance of the mobile phone varies with user groups; for instance, for the Maasai who still lead a nomadic life, the mobile phone is used 'conservatively' to communicate about herd management and to coordinate household affairs in ways that do not substantially disrupt traditional social practices and roles. In contrast, the Wasukuma agro-pastoralists use mobile phones to introduce new processes to support production and marketing, one good example being the strategy used to coordinate transportation of cattle to market. The study findings suggest the extension of the 'appropriation' (Williams, Stewart, & Slack, 2005) conceptualisation by adding the possibility of a spectrum from shallow to extended according to users' role and the context of use. Nevertheless, and in more generic terms, it is possible to say that the mobile phone use did not disrupt some of the traditional practices and trade customs amongst the Maasai, and it has reinforced the innovative behaviour of the Wasukuma. The thesis also examines a parallel initiative whereby aid agencies and public bodies in Tanzania supported the development of the Livestock Information Network and Knowledge System (LINKS), as an ICT platform designed to improve the livestock market by sharing market information. However, studies show that LINKS has not had the intended effect, is not trusted and has not been adopted by many pastoralists. The study shows how the concept of trust, which is key in market dynamics and trade relations, has been reshaped, because the mobile phone has supported informal communications that reinforce traditional methods of policing trust in the market. The thesis contributes to ongoing debates surrounding the conceptualisation of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D). The failure of early ICT4D initiatives was attributed to a failure to address users' specific requirements, due to gaps in the translation process, as well as to socio-political and technical fragilities such as the lack of adequate infrastructure, and a deficient social learning process. The initial reworking of ICT4D highlighted the need to design technology as a specific solution appropriate to particular contexts/user groups. These were seen as finished solutions (corresponding to the idea of a 'technical fix'). Focusing upon 'appropriation', in line with the Social Shaping of Technology - Mark 2 approach - allows scope for a further rethinking of ICT4D which addresses not just design but the active role of users in shaping technological innovation to the context and purposes of communities in developing countries.

Globalization and the rise of the Information Society pose many challenges to developing nations. In adherence to the Millennium Development Goal of digital inclusion, the government of the Dominican Republic established a national program of community technology centers, or telecenters, that aim to promote digital literacy among the poor. This study examined how these telecenters promote the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and tested whether perceived structural factors, individual motivation or demographics predict adoption. Results from a survey conducted in the rural villages of El Seybo, Navarrete, and Oviedo confirm that telecenter users learn how to use information and communication technologies as a resource for information about civic life, entertainment, and professional development. The study concludes that telecenters can succeed in decreasing digital poverty, provided issues of sustainability are addressed with consistent and continued government funding and support. The field of information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) is in its infancy and has yet to develop strong methodological or theoretical standards. This study of ICT adoption and telecenter use in rural areas of the Caribbean contributes empirical evidence to the literature of this emerging discipline.

The thesis addresses mHealth in Uganda and aims to map out how different factors affect the field and what challenges there are in using mobile phones. By using theories the thesis conclude that the organisational structures is unorganised due to lack in communication and communication. The thesis also address many factors that affect the field and to reach development in Uganda the organisations need to target the whole system of components. Coordination from governmental institutions and a will for collaboration between NGO's and government is important if a sustainable organisational structure and development should be attained. ICTs such as mobile phones can be a useful tool in reaching this goal.

The purpose of this research is to study the role of information and communication technology (ICT) and information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) in Cambodian non-government organizations (NGOs). By focusing on a workshop on the ICT applications Unicode and Open Office, initiated by the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (the CCC), I intend to see how these applications were adopted, how they are used and what the future is for ICT and ICT4D in Cambodia. The research is based on qualitative, semi structured interviews with employees at CCC as well as NGO workers who were participants at the workshops. The theories that I have used are Amartya Sen’s capability approach, Everett Rogers’ diffusion of innovation theory and intercultural communication. This study shows that ICT is considered to be a very important tool for the development of Cambodia. Unicode has contributed with an easier way to type and read documents in Khmer and it is considered to promote the Khmer language. Open Office have not found its renaissance yet since people find it difficult to use although the NGOs sees its’ potential and wants to learn it. According to the NGO workers, ICT and ICT4D will play an important role for the Cambodian development in the future but because of a lack of infrastructure and proper knowledge about the new technology, it has not been used to its full capacity. In order for us to understand how ICT can reach its full potential within NGOs, there have to exist an understanding of Cambodian culture and history since the Khmer people’s values affect how the NGO workers look at development and the tools they are using.

The educational landscape is changing and a variety of technologies and techniques are blurring the lines between traditional and non-traditional learning. This change is substantial in low-income countries: individuals in developing countries have a great desire to educate themselves and improve their quality of life. Kenyans are adequately literate and accustomed to mobile technology despite being a largely impoverished, poorly educated populace. Kenya represents an optimal setting in which to research the use and feasibility of modern mobile and educational technologies. The broad aim of this dissertation is to explore how mobile devices can catalyze and enhance both informal and non-formal learning. In particular, this dissertation explores how technologies and concepts such as mobile web apps, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and learning incentives via a smartphone specifically affect informal and non-formal learning in Kenya. The primary research question is how can learning efforts that utilize mobile learning, MOOCs, and learning incentives combine non-formal and informal learning to develop and contribute to a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach to learning in Kenya? The primary method is action research. The first contribution of this dissertation is the finding that mobile web apps are currently better suited for data exchange than producing new content. The second contribution is the finding that a smartphone can enhance informal learning in a developing country with little or no scaffolding. The third contribution is the finding that non-formal learning efforts as a MOOC are shown to be a viable means of delivering non-formal learning in a developing country via a smartphone. The fourth contribution is the finding that the use of incentives such as digital badges provide a means by which to validate non-formal learning and contribute to a DIY attitude towards learning creation, where individuals can freely complement or replace a traditional curriculum.

Mobile phones and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) applications are being progressively used in developing countries to collect voice-based reports about bad governance or poor public service delivery, reported by citizens. Such systems (e.g. Avaaj Otalo, Foroba Blon, etc.) can give an opportunity to rural users in developing countries to easily influence and participate in public affairs. Despite the ongoing efforts on using such solutions, the lack of an efficient system of administration can cause delays in broadcasting the collected reports as quickly as possible, to reach the relevant authorities. This thesis presents the results of a real-world deployment of an administrative functionality for an IVR system called U-Call, used in the Northern districts of Uganda. U-Call Administrative Functionality (UCAF) interacts with the U-Call administrators through mobile phones and gives the moderator access to the registered users. It allows administrators to easily publish and tag audio reports over the Web using their mobile phones. It also uses a semantic tagging module to increase findability and information categorization on the U-Call’s website. After an initial validation and successful evaluation of UCAF in the field, during a trip to Uganda, additional features were incorporated, such as multiple authentication process and dynamic tagging. UCAF and its additional features was succefully delivered to the end user, as part of the  U-Call reporting system. / People’s Voices: Developing Cross Media Services to Promote Citizens Participation in Local Governance Activities

This thesis explores the existing IT conditions of a Kenyan upper secondary school, with the purpose of identifying obstacles and opportunities that need to be considered in developing an IT solution. There has been previous research on IT learning in developing countries, like Jobe’s Do-It-Yourself Learning in Kenya: Exploring mobile technologies for merging non-formal and informal learning from 2014, or Marwan’s Empowering English through Project-Based Learning with ICT from 2015. The infrastructure for IT is rapidly improving in Kenya. With projects such as the laptop project they are showing the world that they are serious about IT usage in education. This thesis overall approach adheres to the ambitions of Action-Design-Research on a single case study made on a charity funded school in the outskirts of Nairobi. In order to establish an understanding of how IT was currently used, and desires for future developments 5 teachers and 4 students were interviewed, and 4 classroom observations were conducted. Results from his study highlights the most pressing factors and a set of design principles named the ETIP-model and the 7-ETIP design principles, named after the identified areas Educational IT-usage, TPACK-competence, Infrastructure, and Personal attitude. The conclusion is that it is important to consider all aspects of the ETIP-model and the 7-ETIP design principles, to insure important aspects of creating an IT system for rural Kenyan schools are taken into account.

One of the key challenges in information and communication technologies for socio-economic development (ICT4D) is that the contribution of ICT to development is difficult to describe and assess. This is particularly true when looking beyond the immediate context of an ICT4D project, to its impact on the larger social system within which the project is introduced. This problem can benefit from a systems approach. Systems thinking is concerned with the performance of the total system, when changes are made to a part of the system. Systems thinking recognises that the performance of a subsystem relative to its own goals does not necessarily lead to increased performance of the larger system. However, in the field of ICT4D, systems approaches are seldom used, and appropriate ways to describe and assess a social system are lacking. The study aims to contribute theoretically as well as empirically to the social systems body of knowledge in ICT4D. A particular social systems approach or framework is developed, based on structuration theory and autopoiesis. The framework is attractive because it provides a way to describe and assess the sustainability and state of development of the total system. The theoretical component of the thesis concerns the development of a social systems framework. This is done in a conceptual study that draws on systems literature and social theory. The empirical component concerns the application of the systems framework in an ICT4D case study. A descriptive, longitudinal case study is performed in a rural settlement in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Data is collected by means of interviews and participant observation during several visits to the settlement. Data analysis is done making use of the concepts in the systems framework. The result of the data analysis is a description of the larger social systems where the ICT4D project is implemented, as systems served, and the ICT4D project, as serving system. By studying the mutual influences between the serving system and systems served, the contribution to socio-economic development of the serving system is assessed. The study’s research contribution is to indicate how a social systems framework can be used to assess an ICT4D project’s contribution to the socio-economic development of the social systems it serves. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Informatics / unrestricted

This thesis answers the research question: What role do institutions play in the adoption and non-adoption of Information Systems (IS) innovations? In exploring this question, institutional theory is used to develop an interpretation of behaviour by Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE) related to the adoption and non-adoption of IS innovation within the Taxco Silver Handicraft Sector. The research categorised the emergent data into established Mexican institutions, which allowed for the analysis of institutionalised responses to the introduction of new social structures. There is a need to understand behaviour related to adopting IS innovations through the beliefs of local agents. Interpretivist literature was used to explore how the adoption of IS innovations is influenced by the local context. This research developed a theoretical framework that combines Scott’s (2008) three-pillars of institutions (regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive); with the Seo and Creed (2002) framework for exploring the institutionalisation of IS innovations. This theoretical framework allowed for the exploration of the contestation between institutional entrepreneurs (agents advocating the adoption of new social structures) and those resilient to institutional change. This research makes a number of key contributions to the field of study. The development of a new theoretical framework is designed to assist future researchers in exploring the institutionalisation process. The methodological contribution emerges from the demonstrating the value of ethnographic case studies within handicraft sectors in developing economies. The practical contribution of this research lies in increasing our understanding of how and why new social structures are developed.

In the early summer months of the global coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, three community-produced participatory videos were conducted on a remote basis. These projects were made in Uganda, Germany and Turkey with the use of mobile technology to understand the impact of the virus on lives of different refugee communities in distant locations around the world. This study evaluates the potential of using the emerging practice of remote participatory video at times of crisis by presenting a case study on one of the participatory video works undertaken in Rhino Camp which is one of the largest refugee camps in Uganda. Drawing on the common production stages within the traditional participatory video practices this thesis presents a preliminary outline for facilitating a remote participatory video. By deploying an affordance approach, it is aimed to investigate how participatory video was translated into a remote practice. By drawing on the Freirean process of critical consciousness the study investigates the ways in which communicative affordances of remote PV could be utilised to promote advocacy during the pandemic. Another objective of the thesis is to explore what unique local experiences and insights could refugees from Rhino Camp bring to bear on the problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Focusing on the analysis of the video messages from the refugees of Rhino Camp, the study explores the following question: What significance and potential could the use of remote practice of civil society produced participatory video have during the COVID-19 outbreak?